Jon Mark, justly acclaimed for his contributions to John Mayall’s Turning Point LP and for his partnership work with Johnny Almond, has apparently let the praise go to his head. The loftily conceived and generally pretentious result is a solo album called Songs for a Friend. Recorded in four cities around the world and subtitled “Bird with a Broken Wing Suite,” it credits no fewer than 54 backup musicians as well as Mark’s “spiritual teacher” and other cohorts who helped him to realize “a writer’s dream.”

Unfortunately, the lyrics stemming from this writer’s dream often sound like hackneyed plots for TV soap operas. In the particularly vapid “Liars of Love,” for instance, Mark tells of a pair of adulterers in the most cliched terms imaginable; “The Bay” is molded of such throwaway lines as “distant shores and other doors are calling”; and “Someday I’ll Build a Boat,” a tiresome philosophical blend of Rod McKuen and Charles Reich, finds its protagonist threatening to quit his nine-to-five gig and “sail away.”

While marred by such simplistic lyricism, and by the singer’s frequently affected inflections, the disc is not without redeeming qualities. Mark’s new melodies are as strongly evocative as the ones he wrote when Mark-Almond was in business. On a few tunes, such a “Signal Hill” and “Joey,” his vocals and lyrics prove engaging as well.

The album is available here.